Engine-starting mechanism



June 24, 1930. R, PNLANSING 1,768,082

' ENGINE STARTING MECHANISM Filed April 1'7, .1929

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dnonwus Fatented dame 2t, rare RAYMOND 1. LANSING, 0F MONTCLAIR, NEW JEREEY, ASSIGNOR TO ECLIPSE MACHINE COMPANY, OF ELMIRA HEIGHTS, NEW YQREI, A CORIORATION OF NEW YORK ENGIIgE-STARTING MECHANISM Application filed April 17,

be started, and means is provided for cranking or accelerating-the flywheel, either manually or by power means, until suflicient energy has been stored in the flywheel due to its high speed to start the engine when the clutch member is engaged therewith. Where it is desirable to energize the starter mechanism from the side of' the engine, as is frequently the case in aeroplanes, it has heretofore been necessary to rotate the cranking shaft in opposite directions, at op-- posite s1des of the engine, to produce the same direction of rotation of the engine. For this reason the operator, in energizing the starter, would stand facing the aeroplane propeller on one side of the engine only, and if it were necessary for any reason for the cranking to be done fromthe opposite side, the operator would stand facing away from the propeller. The direction of rotation of the cranking shaft, at either side of the'engine, likewise depends on the direction of rotation of the engine crankshaft which may be either clockwise or counterclockwise. In order to minimize the danger of accident, and furthermore to provide for universal applicability of the same starter mechanism to different conditions and to different types of engines, it is desirable to provide starter mechanism which may be cranked in either direction from either side of the engine.

One of the objects of the invention, therefore, is to provide a novel compact and self-contained engine starter of the inertia type which is universally applicable to vary- 192tl, Serial No. 355,902.

ing conditions of installation and operation such as described above.

Another object of the invention is to provide inertia starting mechanism embodying cranking or energizing means which may be arranged for cranking in either direction from either side of the engine to produce either given direction of rotation of the en gine shaft. I

A still further object is to provide inertia starting mechanism embodying the above object or objects which mechanism is of small size and light Weight, eficient design, and capable of installation and operation with the same facility under the varying conditions which may be encountered.

One embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it is to be expressely understood that said drawings are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed as a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims,

for this purpose.

In said drawings,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal axial sectional view illustrating one embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view substantially taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, the starter in the form shown comprises a casing or housing including an inner housing section 3 and an outer housing section 4:- The sections 3 and a are provided with suitable flanges which may be clamped together in any suitable manner as by means of threaded bolts 5. The inner housing section 3 is adapted to be secured to the casing or other part of an internal combustion engine to be started and accordingly is provided with a flange 6 which may be clamped to a similar flange 7 of-the engine casing by any suitable means such as bolts 8 extending through openings in said flanges. Preferably the openings are concentric with the y 2Q 13 and'on its outer end with a lock washer light weight is rotatably spondingly 'end. Preferably, rotate in a ball bearing 27 mounted in the by the starter housing may be secured to the engine casing in any desired position rotation about its axis, for a purpose to be described hereinafter.

' A diaphragm 9 is clamped between the housing sections 3 and 4 and is provided at its center with a laterally projecting boss in which a flywheel 11 of small size and mounted in any suitable manner. Preferably, the hub 12 of said flywheel rotates in a pair of ball bearings 13 carriedby the boss 10, the ball races being separated by a spacing ring-14 and retained in the boss 10 by means of a ring 15 secured to said boss by means of screws 16. A hollow shaft 17 extends through the hub 12 of the flywheel and is keyed thereto at 18, said shaft being provided der 19 which engages the inner ball bearing 20 and a nut 21 whereby said shaft, flywheel and ball bearings are held against axial displacement relative to one another.

In theembodimentshown, flywheel 11 is adapted to be accelerated manually to high speed whereby sufficient energy is stored therein to crank the engine, and to this end a hollow cranking shaft 22 passes freely.

through the hollow shaft 17, the outer end of shaft 22 passing through and being rotatably mounted in an, opening formed in a diaphragm 23 constituting a part of housing section 4. The opposite sides of the outer end of shaft 22 are preferably flattened, as shown at 24. (Fig. 2) to receive a correshaped sleeve 25 which is provided with a gear 26 formed on its outer shaft 22 and sleeve 25 opening in the diaphragm 23 and retained therein by rings28. The portion of sleeve 25 which is supported by ball bearing 27 may be reduced in diameter to provide a shoulder 29 engaging the inner ball race, and a nut 30 and lock washer 31 on the inner reduced end of said sleeve prevent relative axial movement between the sleeve and the ball bearing. Gear 26 isshown as a spiral gear, and means such as those. hereinafter described are provided for rotating said gear and the cranking shaft 22 to accelerate the flywheel.

The inner end of the cranking shaft 22- is provided 'with flat sides 32 and preferably has a driving fit with a disk 33, to which a cylindrical member 34 is secured by suitable .means such as screws 35.

, Disk 33 and the cylindrical member 34 constitute a barrel which is rotatably mounted in the inner housing section 3 by means of a bushing 36. The disk: 33 supports a plurality of planetary gears 37 one of which is shown 'in section in Fig. 1, each of said planetary gears being rotatably mounted on a screw adjacent its inner end with a shoul- 38 threaded into the disk 33. Surrounding f each screw 38 is a sleeve 39 that is set into the face of the disk 33, and a bushing 40 is preferably interposed between each sleeve 39 and the. hub of each gear 37. The gears,

bushings and sleeves are maintained in operative relation by means such'as a spacing ring 41. A stationary internal gear 42 surrounds and meshes with the planetary gears 37 and is preferably secured to housing section 3 by means of studs 43 provided on their outer ends withnuts 44. A dowel pin 45 extending through corresponding =openings in the housing section 3 and gear 42, may be provided to relieve the studs of themajor portion of the torque imposed on said gear.

Planetary gears 37 mesh with a sun gear 46 which is rotatably mounted as by means of a bushing 47 on the cranking shaft 22 and is held against longitudinal displacement thereon by suitable means such as a ring 48 and a nut 49 pinned to the shaft 22 at 50. Preferably, sun gear 46 is formed integrally with an internal spur gear 51 which meshes with a pinion 52 that is formed on'one end of-a stub shaft 53, said stub shaft being rotatably mounted by mean of a bushing 54 in abearing boss 55 formed in the diaphragm 9 and being held therein by means of a suitable shoulder formed on said shaft 53 and a nut 56 threaded 0n the'outerreduced end of said shaft. Shaft 53 is further provided with agear 57 which meshes with a pinion 58 fozrmed on the inner end of the hollow shaft 1 started. However, if the energy of the rapidlyrotating flywheel were applied to clutch jaw 60 through positive driving connections, damage to the starter parts would result and accordingly, yielding means are provided intermediate the gear train above described and the clutch jaw 59 to permit slippage between said clutch jaw and the ear train until the rotation of the cl tch aw 60 has'been brought up to the speed of that of clutch jaw 59.

In the form shown, said yielding means is constituted by a multiple disk friction clutch comprising a plurality of interleaving annular disks 61, alternate disks being splined respectively to the inner surface of the cylindrical member 34 and to the outer surface of an interiorly theraded nut 62.

' The rotation of the flywheel 11 is trans- The outer end of nut 62, adjacent the disk 33, is provided with a flange 63,and a spacing ring 64 is interposed between said flange and the outermost clutch disk 61. The inner end of the cylindrical member 34 is provided with an inwardly extending flange 65, and a spacing ring 66, which is L-shaped in cross-section, isinterposed between said flange and the innermost clutch disk 61. A washer 67 bears against the inner face of the flange 65, and a plurality of coil s rings 68 which bear against said washer 6 provide means for maintaining the clutch. disks 61 in frictional engagement. Preferably, .springs 68 are maintained in spaced relation around the nut 62 by means of pins 69 carried bya ring 70, and a nut 71 threadw ed on the outer end of the nut 62 provides means for adjusting the tension of the springs 68.

A threaded shaft 72 engages the interiorly threaded nut 62 and is adapted for relative rotary and longitudinal movement therein, said shaft carrying on its outer end a stop nut 73 which is adapted to engage a shoulder 74 formed in the nut 62 to limit the longitudinal displacement of the shaft relative to the nut, The inner end of the shaft 72 has splined engagement with the hub 75 of the clutch jaw 59.

F or the purpose of preventing the leaka e of oil from the engine crank case into t e starter mechanism, a substantially cupshaped oil sealing member 76 is clamped between the flanges 6 and 7 of the starter housing and engine crank case, respectively, and has a lip 77 surrounding and of only slightly greater diameter than the clutch jaw 59. A flexible washer 78, secured to the member 76 by .means of rivets 79, is pressed outwardly by means of a metal ring 80 into engagement with the smooth back or outer face of clutch jaw 59 by engagenrent with the inner end of member 62.

Any suitable means may be provided for shifting the clutch jaw 59 into engagement with clutch jaw 60 when the flywheel 11 has been brought up tovspeed, and in the form shown, a longitudinally shiftable rod 81 extends freely through the shafts 72 and 22, and is provided with a shoulder 82 adapted to engage the outer end of the shaft 72. The inner end of the rod 81 passes through the center of the clutch jaw 59 and is provided with a nut 83. 'Clut'ch jaw 59 and shaft 72 are separated by a coil spring 84, and washers 85 are preferably held by said spring against the clutch jaw 59 to prevent the leakage of oil through the central opening thereof. The rod 81 may be shifted longitudinally by any suitable means which, as shown, comprise a rockshaft 86 mounted to rotate in a bearing 87 constituting a part of the starter housing, said rod being normally held in the retracted position shown in the drawings by a coil spring 88. An arm 86, carried by rockshaft 86, engages the rod 81.

As indicated above, the flywheel 11 may be initially accelerated by rotating the hollow cranking shaft 22 which rotates the disk 33 and, through the reduction gearing above described, energizes said flywheel. In order that the starter may be cranked from either side as desired, the spiral gear 26 on the end of the hollow shaft 22 meshes with a corresponding spiral gear 89 that ismounted intermediate the ends of a transverse shaft 90 and has driven engagement therewith by means of the flat sides 91 of said shaft. Shaft 90 is rotatably mounted in bearings 92 disposed on opposite sides of the starter housing section 4 and constituting a part thereof, bushings 93 held in place by pins 94 being interposed between the shaft and its bearings. Preferably, ball bearings 95 are interposed between the hub 96 of spiral gear 89 and the bearings'92r The opposite ends of shaft 90- extend through the bearings 92 and project outwardly of the starter housing. In the form shown, the left-hand end of shaft 90 (Fig. 2), carries a sleeve 97 that is retained in position by means of a pin 98, said sleeve being adapted to receive a crank handle (not shown). A collar or nut 99 may be secured on the right hand end of cranking shaft 90 by means of a pin 100, when it is not desired to use this end for cranking purposes.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows. With the parts in the positions shown in the drawings, a crank handle is fitted to the sleeve 97 and is actuated to rotate the cranking shaft 22 through the spiral gears 89 and 26. The proper direction of rotation of the cranking handle may be assumed to be counterclockwise, as seen from the lefthand end. of shaft 90 in Fig. 2, although it is to be understood that this direction of rotation will depend upon the hand of the spiral gears for any given direction of rotation of clutch jaw 59. The rotation of cranking shaft 22 rotates the barrel 33, 34, causing rotation of the planetary gears 37, which in turn transmit their rotation through sun gear 46 and gears 51, 52, 57, and 58 to the flywheel 11. Owing to the reduction gearing, said flywheel rotates at a speed much greater than that of cranking shafts 22- and 90, and may reach a speed in excess of 10,000 revolutions per minute. The rotation of the barrels 33, 34 causes, through the friction disk clutch, a corresponding rotation of nut 62, shaft 72, and clutch jaw 59.

As soon as the flywheel speed is sufficient, 'rockshaft 86 is actuated to shift rod 81 to the left, as viewed in Fig. 1, whereupon shoulder 82 of said rod engages the outer end of shaft 72 and causes the latter to move to the left relative to ,the nut 62 until stop nut 73 engages shoulder 74, whereupon nut 62 still shifted to the left. 7

. shaft 86 is released, spring 88 event this, the starting ap and shaft 72 rotate in unison. The'longitu- 'of the teeth of said jaws force 'the jaw 59 away from the jaw 60 against the tension of the spring 84, assuming that the rod 81 is When the rockretracts the rod 81 to the right.

It will be seen that under the conditions above stated, when the operator stands on the left-hand side of the machine to crank the starter and the direction of rotation of the hand crank is counterclockwise, the op erator Will stand facing the propeller of tht aeroplane, whereby danger of accident is minimized. Should it be desirable or necessary to crank the starter from the righthand side of the aeroplane, it is only necessary to fit the hand crank on the other end of the cranking shaft 90, 'whereupon, the direction of rotation of shaft 90 being clockwise, asviewed from the right-hand end in Fig. 2, the operator will again stand facing the propeller of the aeroplane.

In many cases, however, the direction of rotation of the engine to be cranked may be different, so that the required direction of rotation of starter jaw 59 is clockwise in one case and counterclockwise in another. Assuming the direction of rotation of the engine crankshaft to be opposite to that above described, the starter jaw may be readily removed and replaced by another having oppositely inclined teeth, but the direction of rotation of the cranking shaft 90 will be reversed and the operator would face away from the propeller at either end. To prearatus may be rotated through 180 he housing is secured to the crank case. The position of cranking shaft 90 will now be above instead of below cranking shaft 22,

and the ends of cranking shaft 90 will be .reversed, so that the direction of rotation of the cranking shaft, as seen from either end, is precisely the same as in the first instance described above, although the directions of rotation of the clutch jaws are opposite. It will be seen that for either given direction of rotation of clutch jaw 59, say clockwise,

the direction of cranking of the crankhandle at the left-hand side may thus be made either clockwise or counterclockwise; and that should the required direction of rotaclutch jaw 60 is rogine to another,

ore the starter tion of rotation of the crank handle at either :the left-hand or right-hand side of the centric, the bolt holes for the bolts 8 being concentric with the starter axis and equally spaced around the same, and the cranking shaft 90 extending substantially at right angles tion of clutch jaw 59 be reversed, the direc-v to the axis of the starter, any necessary adjustment of the mechanism may be made in the field by very simple operations without disturbing the integrity of the mechanism itself. A single starter mechanism, as shipped from the factory, maybe applied in the field to practically any condition encountered, or may be shifted from one aeroplane to another or fromone enetc., without difficulty.

While only one embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the details of contraction and the arrangement of parts, as will now readily occur to those skilled inthe art. Reference is therefore to be had to the appended claims for a definition of the limits of the invention.

' What is claimed is:

1. In startin mechanism for internal combustion engines, a flywheel adapted for high speed rotation, a clutch member shiftable to engage a member of an engine to be started, means including reduction gearing for drivably connecting said flywheel and clutch member, means in driving engagement with said gearing for accelerating said flywheel, said means including a spiral gear, and a cranking shaft having a spiral gear intermedite its ends in mesh with said first named spiral gear, the opposite ends of said shaft being formed for engaging cranking means therewith.

2. In starting mechanism for internal combustion engines, a flywheel adapted for high speed rotation, a clutch member disposed coaxially with said flywheel and adapted-t0 be shifted axially to engage a member of an engine to be started, a train llt of reduction gearing drivably connecting I said flywheel and clutch member, a housing for said mechanism, a cranln'ng shaft extending axially through said flywheel and housing and drivably engaging the low speed end of said reduction gearing, a cranking shaft extending substantially. at right angles to said first named cranking shaft, and interengaging spiral gears mounted one on each of said shafts, the ends of said second named shaft extending exteriorly of said housing and being formed to receive cranking means.

3. In starting mechanism' for internal combustion engines, a rotatable and axially displaccable clutch member adapted to engage a member of an engine to be started, a high-speed flywheel, a train of, reduction v gearing drivably connecting said flywheel cranking means.

4:. In starting mechanism for internal combustion engines, the combination wi h a clutch member adapted to engagea ember of an engine tobe started, an inertia member adapted for high speed rotation, and a train of reduction gearing drivably connecting said inertia and clutch members,

of means for manually accelerating said inertia member comprising a cranking shaft, means drivably connecting said cranking shaft with the low speed end of said train of gearing including inter-em gaging spiral gears, one of saidspiral gears being mounted on said shaft, and means formed on one end of said shaft for fitting a hand crank thereto. l

5. In starting mechanism for internal combustion engines, the combination with a clutch member adapted to engage a member of an engine to be started, a flywheel adapted to be rotated at high speed, and means including a train of reduction gearing and a yielding driving means drivably-connecting said flywheel and clutch member, of

means for accelerating said flywheel comprising a cranking shaft, interengaging splral gears one of which is mounted on said shaft, means drivably connecting the other of said spiral gears with said flywheel, and means formed on said shaft for engaging cranking means therewith.

6. Starting mechanism for internal combustion engines comprising a clutch member adapted to be displaced to engage a member of an engine to be started, a flywheel of small size and light weight, a train of reduction gearing drivably connecting. said flywheel and clutch member, a yielding driving connection interposed between said gearing said shaft being formed for engagement with cranking means, a spiral gear carried by said shaft intermediate its ends, and means including a spiral gear meshing with said first named spiral gear for drivably connecting said cranking shaft with said train of" reduction gearing. I 7

7(Starting mechanism for internal combustion engines for aeroplanes or the like comprising a rotatable clutch member adapted to engage a member of an engine to be started, a high-speed flywheel, means drivably connecting said flywheel and clutch member including a train of reduction gearing, a housing for said mechanism,means disposed concentrically with the axis of saidhousing for mounting the same, whereby said housing may be mounted in diflerent positions of rotation about said axis, a cranking shaft disposed substantially at right angles to said axis, and means including intermeshing spiral gears for drivably connecting said shaft with said flywheel, one

means disposed concentrically with the axis of said housing for mounting the same, whereby said housing may be mounted in different positions of rotation about said axis, a cranking shaft disposed parallel to said axis and drivably connected to said inertia'member, a second cranking, shaft disposed at right angles to said axis, and intermcshing gear means carried by said shafts, said second named shafts having itsends accessible at opposite sides of said housing for accelerating said inertia member.

9. In inertia starting mechanism of the type embodying an engine engaging clutch member, a high speed flywheel, and reduction means for drivably connecting the flywheel and clutch member,-the combination with said reduction means of a cranking shaft extending through said flywheel and drivably connected to saidreduction means, a second shaft extending substantially at right angles to said first named shaft, the opposite ends of the second shaft being aecessible for cranking, and means. for drivably connecting said first and second named shafts.

10. In inertia starting mechanism ofthe type embodying an engine engaging clutch 6 weense member, a-high speed flywheel, and reduction means for drivabl connecting the flywheel and clutch memhe'r, the combination with said reduction means of a cranking shaft extending through said flywheel and drivably connected to said reduction means; a second shaft extending substantially at right angles to said first named shaft, the opposite ends of the second shaft being accessible for cranking, means for drivably connecting said first and second named shaft, and means for moving the clutch member to engine engaging position, including a rod. slidable in said first named shaft.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification RAOND P. LANSING. 

